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TIL the Chinese developed a psychoactive narcotic consisting entirely of a mixture of inorganic minerals in about 200 CE. It was widely popular for about 800 years before being condemned and the recipe subsequently forgotten. This makes it the only fun reactional drug permanently lost to time.

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J18oQ TIL Freshwater snails carry a parasitic disease, which infects nearly 250 million people and causes over 200,000 deaths a year. The parasites exit the snails into waters, they seek you, penetrate right through your skin, migrate through your body, end up in your blood and remain there for years.
9YNRX TIL U.S.P.S, FedEx and UPS have tipping regulatuions. U.S.P.S A non-monetary gift under $20 is appropriate. FedEx drivers can receive tips and gifts, but they should not exceed $75. UPS prefers its drivers to receive gifts, rather than cash.
gMYrD TIL that some especially poignant scenes in Greek tragedy were written in "catalectic trochaic tetrameter." It's the same rhythm as the song "Oh My Darling, Clementine."
7Agb TIL “[FBI] agents sought to persuade Martin Luther King Jr. to kill himself just before he received the Nobel Prize. ‘King, there is one thing left for you to do. You know what it is,’ FBI operatives wrote in their anonymous letter.”
yxJJ TIL Alfred Hitchcock once bet a prop man a week’s salary to spend the night chained up in a movie studio, giving him a beaker of brandy to get him through the night. It was laced with strong laxatives. The following morning, the film crew found the poor man crying in a puddle of his own feces.